Not looking for spoilers, but remembering how frustrated the rogue builds could be in Age of Worms, are there any builds I should avoid?

I don't really see anything that should be avoided, per se... but some serious reccomendations would be the Human Oath of Vengeance Paladin, Dawrven anti-Giant Skirmisher Ranger, Halfling Archeaologist Bard and just about any kind of Wizard (though we don't have one and we're looking just fine). In fact those four would make an excellent four-man party.

I don't really see anything that should be avoided, per se... but some serious reccomendations would be the Human Oath of Vengeance Paladin, Dawrven anti-Giant Skirmisher Ranger, Halfling Archeaologist Bard and just about any kind of Wizard (though we don't have one and we're looking just fine). In fact those four would make an excellent four-man party.

That's pretty much the carbon copied list of Iconics from CotCT with a bit of archetype skins.

I don't really see anything that should be avoided, per se... but some serious reccomendations would be the Human Oath of Vengeance Paladin, Dawrven anti-Giant Skirmisher Ranger, Halfling Archeaologist Bard and just about any kind of Wizard (though we don't have one and we're looking just fine). In fact those four would make an excellent four-man party.

That's pretty much the carbon copied list of Iconics from CotCT with a bit of archetype skins.

We are actually seriously considering doing it with two Master Summoners and a Wild Caller Summoner. The Master Summoners would be twins, a male and female half-elf - one with a stealthy infiltrator eidolon and the other with a tinker knowledge-baded eidolon. The Summoner would be their half-brother, a half-elf, half-orc sibling that they had just journeyed to find in exile and reunite with - the summoning magic being in their blood. His eidolon would be a mount and the two would fight in tandem with lance and claw.

though anything else could be utilized, a wizard is highly recommended, in fact, most of the wizards you encounter in the AP as written are transmuters whom have forsaken illusion and enchantment. so mimicing this combo allows you maximium benefit for looted spellbooks past book 3. and the majority of the notable loot in the 2nd half is spellbooks looted from wizards and other wizard items, in fact, a lot of the notable wizard villains will utilize items or racial abilities to overcome percieved weaknesses. as an example,

Spoiler:

Mokmuran is a stone giant with 15 wizard levels in book 4 whom due to his huge racial bonuses and vast array of transmutation spells fights like a gish.

I completely agree. My party just concluded Hook Mountain Massacre, and are now at 10th level. They're all pretty standard, old-school D&D types...

Human male cleric of Sarenrae. No archetype. Mostly optimized as a healer. Fire and Sun domains.

Human male barbarian. Invulnerable rager archetype. Carries around a small arsenal of weapons, but his signature weapon is a polearm (found as treasure during Burnt Offerings, and the player completely adopted it). He's the most optimized character (the player is a bit of a power-gamer), and totally dominates melee combat.

Human male universalist wizard. No archetype. Built as a generalist arcane type-- he can do a little bit of everything.

Half-elf male ranger/rogue. No archetypes. Optimized for being the party skill-monkey and infiltrator: has scary high Perception, Disable Device, and Stealth skills. Two-weapon combat style (twin kukris).

We had two other PCs, but the players moved out of town, so I have moved the characters into recurring NPC roles...

Most of the dungeons are pretty big once you get past the first dungeon of Hook Mountain Massacre (the Graul homestead isn't very mount-friendly, but most of what happens beyond that particular dungeon is fine) and some of the final dungeons are downright massive. The biggest problems for mounts are dungeons that are compact and largely vertical like Habe's Sanatorium, the Foxglove Manor, and the Shadow Clock. The only places I could see as being potentially problematic late in the AP are the Festering Maze of Sloth (windy, narrow hallways, many halls are flooded), The Vekker's Cabin (compact and vertical), and the Lair of the Hidden Beast (narrow entrance tunnels).

Lol I think that covers enough to make it annoying for someone. As long as the character isn't 100% focused on mounted combat it wouldnt be too bad, but if they are I think they would get fustraited.

Other then that, I have found Rotrl to be a great AP for a balanced party. My group has a Witch, Alchemist, Cleric, Paladin, Monk and Sorcerer. Little caster heavy (they did not like playing with the Kreegs), but they just started book 4.

Edit: Oh yea, and +1 on the Will Save advise, our Alchemist has something like a +4 will save at level 10. It has become something of a joke (a dangerous one).

Lol I think that covers enough to make it annoying for someone. As long as the character isn't 100% focused on mounted combat it wouldnt be too bad, but if they are I think they would get fustraited.

Other then that, I have found Rotrl to be a great AP for a balanced party. My group has a Witch, Alchemist, Cleric, Paladin, Monk and Sorcerer. Little caster heavy (they did not like playing with the Kreegs), but they just started book 4.

Edit: Oh yea, and +1 on the Will Save advise, our Alchemist has something like a +4 will save at level 10. It has become something of a joke (a dangerous one).

True, but every class eventually faces situations where they're faced with seemingly-impossible situations (casters face the occasional magic-immune enemy or area of antimagic, fighters face the occasional long-range enemy or incorporeal thing that their weapons can't hit, everybody who can't channel positive energy faces massive headaches with otherwise essentially-unbreakable haunts, etc.), but there's always a way around things I think part of being a player is learning to accept the fact that regardless of what you play, an adventure isn't always going to cater to you, and learning how to make the best of that is part of the fun of the game. (At least for me anyways. Opinions may vary, and that's fine.)

(A tip: Avoid ever being 100% focused on anything. It inevitably leads to an encounter or two in which you find yourself countered, and then you face the frustration of being 100% useless rather than the frustration of being merely less useful than normal, which is what you get when your focus fails you, but you have backup plans.)

Reminds me of my first time running this... one of my players insisted, despite my warnings, on playing a cavalier. He somewhat belligerently demanded I allow for his horse

horse:

...to crawl on its belly through the hedge maze in front of Thistletop. I was tired of arguing, so I allowed it... and felt only a tiny glimmer of pity when he charged his mount across the trapped bridge, sending his mount into the surf below. His character got the party killed soon after by falling asleep on guard duty.

did the horse roll an escape artist check to squeeze through? if it were human, i doubt the large mount could truly do that without extreme difficulty. DC 25 Escape Artist would be reasonable.

also remember that the mount has a -4 racial penalty to stealth due to it's size, a massive weight (12 times that of a medium creature), the rider and their gear adds further additional weight, and horses don't have a lot of skill points. the bridge would also have to be a lot wider.

Rise of the Runelords seems to be written to hit all of the staples of old-school D&D adventuring, particularly the "Against the Giants" modules (well before my time). It has goblins, wizards, giants and everything in between, a good deal of ruins (that suit an archaeologist or scholar type quite well, especially a wizard).

I say stick to the core-classes and play a "classic adventurer" of some description. My advice with adventure path characters is to steer away from lengthy backstories, and to let the plot happen to you rather than the other way around. A simple motivation: greed, fame, protecting your loved ones, or a passion for history can be all you need.

I wouldn't shy away from reading summaries of the AP just to know what to expect, and also talk with your GM about a character that ties in well with the path. If you're looking for ideas, a Dwarven giant-hunter, a retired ranger, a Thassilonian wizard/historian, a greedy thief, a gypsy priestess of Desna (the goddess who gets the most facetime in the path, even if it is very little)... just keep it simple!

As for character builds, decent damage (power attack for a meleer, ferinstance), good defenses (Toughness and Iron Will are your friends, or the fantastic Steel Soul if you're a dwarf) and a spellbook (for scribing the numerous scrolls that are about) are your friends, as is (in my opinion, ymmv) Turn Undead. There'll be plenty of traps, undead, magic and melee encounters, so every class should have its day.

I'll stop myself before I give anything away, but this is my two-cents for Runelords characters. Enjoy your game!

you are going to want at least a wizard. any specialty works, but a transmuter whom chooses illusion and enchantment as his opposition schools will be able to use the majority of the looted spellbooks.

An Acrobat archetype rogue would be really fun, throw in neat feats, concentrate on throwing knives and things like cartwheel dodge and close quarters thrower, if you afford them feats like nimble and agile moves. Running around on rocks/rubble or across tables hucking knives for sneak attack and still being able to do all the out of combat roguey stuff sounds like good fun...

Running around on rocks/rubble or across tables hucking knives for sneak attack.

That's another thing! There is a tonne of cramped quarters, difficult terrain and interesting battle maps throughout the adventure, so an acrobat wouldnt go amiss. I'm used to maps a lot more open and less cluttered, with none of the cramped quarters you see in Burnt Offerings.

So now I am confused, what benefit did his character gain, by making this choice... I mean I get it in real life, I want to go to sleep. But In game there is no draw back to "I take my turn at guard", so why fight that? Just to be a contrarian?

Edit: I just had a hilarious vision, of going down to your cellar or store room, and suddenly finding it full or squatters.... "Martha! get the bat!!!"